


Agent Leopold Fitz: Scientist, Best Friend, Hero.

by ThatOddNerd



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Humor, Romance, Some Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 04:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2053800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOddNerd/pseuds/ThatOddNerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was four months after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and their time in and out of the old med bay. Leo Fitz was out of the hospital and doing just fine. Too fine in fact. And Jemma Simmons (As well as everyone else.) was worried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Agent Leopold Fitz: Scientist, Best Friend, Hero.

* * *

 

You'd think for someone who'd been through what Agent Leo Fitz had been through, they'd show a little more of the very real and ever present damage that they had accumulated. Hit, ejected from a plane in what amounted to a super heavy metal box, broke his arm, then went without oxygen for a long enough amount of time where he slipped into a coma for two weeks. All because he cared, all because he loved and trusted the people around him and it cost him something. Always the giver, the protector. Even when he was scared and knowing he'd die. And yet, after he woke up and was cleared for the field, he went back to work as if nothing had happened. Sure, he had a few memory lapses, but nothing too serious, and while Jemma had to assist him with the occasional heavy lifting and note jotting (and taking him back to his bunk when he'd fall asleep in the middle of working on something but shhhh no one knows.), he was fine. 

A little too fine for having been what he'd been through.

And that was what worried Jemma. (And May, and Coulson, and Skye, and Triplett, and even Ward after Skye begrudgingly told him how Fitz was doing during an interrogation. But only because he refused to talk until she told him.) He shouldn't be alright. He should be angry. And upset. He should be snapping at people and maybe even demand time off. He should be glaring at Ward through the window of his holding room . He should be yelling at Coulson and Hill and anyone he could find. He should be...acting like anyone would act if they had gone through that. 

But he wasn't. 

He was calm. Too calm. He didn't even yell at Ward when he had gotten the chance to. He just stared at him, asked him if he knew the medbay would sink, and then left the room. He didn't yell at anyone. Not Coulson, nor Hill, nor May, Skye, or Jemma. He didn't want time off nor did he break anything. He wasn't upset, at least not from the looks of it. He admitted he was a bit miffed to have missed the action with Hydra when they got Skye back, and that he was now weeks behind on his work, but besides that, he said nothing. Admittedly he wasn't laughing as much as he used to, but there was rarely anything to laugh at these days, so he could hardly be deducted 'normal' points for that. He'd had some issues with his hearing at first, and was visited by none other than Clint Barton himself, who gave him a prototype hearing aid he'd helped develop after he had gone deaf. But besides that...nothing. 

They wanted to help. They weren't stupid. They knew that despite his constant reassurances that he was alright, he wasn't. They just didn't know how to help. They thought that perhaps if they all talked to him, maybe they'd get something, but Jemma vetoed that quickly pointing out that even if they all went to him one by one, he'd know what they were doing and clam up even more. 

And there was another strange thing. He wasn't opening up to Jemma anymore. Not like he used to. And that hurt her more than she really cared to admit. They had been so close before, telling each other practically everything and leaning on one another for support. She still saw more of how he was doing than the others did, but she also saw him withdrawing from her, and it made her want to cry. He was holding something in and she couldn't get to it, she couldn't help. 

They were waiting for the timer to tick down. The bomb to go off. The storm to hit. 

And yet it wasn't coming. 

He'd been hurt, in more ways than one, by persons he had trusted, and yet he was acting like nothing had happened. 

It was three months after the incident with Hydra and getting trapped at the bottom of the ocean, that it happened. He and Jemma were working in their new lab, he on a new set of D.W.A.R.F.S and she on an injectable adrenaline shot without side affects. It was quiet, save for the music Skye had put on the loudspeakers of the Bus after winning a bet against May, but they were able to turn it down. She heard him sigh and then put down the laser drill he'd been using, before taking off the protective shield he'd had on, and turning. Her heart rate quickened, the idea that he was finally going to talk to her more exciting than anything she'd heard lately. What he said instead was...not what she had been expecting.

" Go ahead. Ask." 

"What do you mean?" she mumbled , not turning around from her work station. 

"Don't be like that Jemma, it's not very flattering. You know very well what I mean. Just ask. I know you want to. I know everyone wants to but for some reason they won't. So just ask." Jemma put down the dropper she'd been holding and turned to look at him, biting her lip in worry. 

"I... we...we're just...worried about you Fitz..." she started, causing him to scoff, and her eyes to widen in shock. 

"Worried? Why? Because I got hurt? If it had happened to someone else I doubt everyone would be making such a big deal." 

"Fitz..." 

" No, it's fine. I get it . Really." He was angry. Really angry. Jemma knew this wouldn't end well, and he was probably going to say some cruel things to her, but at that moment she was just happy that he was talking. " It's because it's me. Defenceless Fitz. If it had been anyone else, anyone, people wouldn't be hovering. Coulson. Ward. Triplett. May. Even Skye. But it was me. Because I'm not trained. Because I can't fight. Because I am defenceless and a liability and..." 

"Fitz, kindly shut the hell up." Even Jemma startled herself with her interruption. Seeing the look on Fitz' face assured her that her choice in words were poor indeed, but she couldn't take hearing what she did. Not like this. Not now. " Of course you aren't. And neither am I. We're not field agents Fitz. We're scientist who are allowed to be in the field because that is what we do. Science. We aren't supposed to be trained in combat or survival skills. The others have defence training. We don't. We aren't expected to go into the field, guns ablaze, and roundhousing someone in the face. That's May's specialty. Not us. Skye got combat training because she wanted to become an agent and she wasn't one. She wasn't a certified scientist like we are. And yet, despite that fact, despite everything, you stand up to the bad guys and you create all these wonderful things and you save people Fitz. You save people whether you know it or not. You saved me. That was very brave Fitz. Very brave and very clever. You are a good agent. You've gone above and beyond what has been asked of you, and everyone is so proud. We're just worried. You should be pissed. You should be yelling and breaking things and going off on some moody journey to find yourself like Coulson." That got a laugh out of Fitz and Jemma smiled. "Don't bottle all of this up because you think it will make you appear weak in front of the team Fitz. They don't think that at all. They want to see you react. They want to see you upset. Because you've earned it. You've earned the 'hero got critically injured and is now rampaging' episode." 

"In my defence, I did break something. I just didn't tell anyone." Fitz said after a fairly lengthy amount of silence.

"Oh? What did you break Mr. Berserker?" Jemma teased. 

"My alarm clock. The bloody thing was blaring a few weeks back and my arm just kind of shot out and swapped at it and I heard it shatter. I was a bit annoyed by that. I'd made the stupid thing." Jemma laughed and crossed the space between them, taking him in her arms and hugging him tightly. 

"Don't ever scare me like that again Fitz. Please. I don't know what I would do without you and it felt like I was losing you. It was almost as bad as the thought of you dying in that bloody container at the bottom of the ocean." She could feel him smile into her shoulder and that made her hug him even tighter. "I can't do this without you Fitz. I can't do this without my best friend. My science mate. My partner. My hero." she rested her chin on his shoulder and they just stood there, connected and enjoying the feeling of just being there and knowing they were always going to be there for each other. "I'd quit if you were gone if I'm going to be honest. This wouldn't be as fun or interesting without you. I'd go back to England or work at the new headquarters in a lab. I wouldn't be here on the Bus."

"Ditto." Jemma was thrilled to hear the lighter sound of his Scottish accent, the one that helped her know he was alright. She knew what all his accents sounded like. When he was upset, angry, happy, sad, elated, embarrassed. She knew them all. They fell into a more comfortable silence as they worked, and after awhile, Jemma heard the laser go down again, and tensed, hoping he wasn't going to change his attitude about the whole thing. Instead, she heard him stuttering. "So..uh...I w-was wondering...w-when w-when we g-get back to the Playground in a week, w-would you maybe like to... to..." _Oh Fitz_ , Jemma thought. _You sweet man_.

"Are you asking me out on a date Fitz?" Jemma asked, turning around and still holding a dropper. She missed this, the ease of their banter. Fitz was now bright red and she couldn't help but giggle.

"Well...I mean...as much of one as we could have at the Playground I mean. Which isn't much, but..."  Fitz was cut off by Jemma suddenly being right there in front of him and kissing him, grabbing the lapels of the jacket he was wearing (It was too cold in the lab and they hadn't gotten _everything_ on the Bus repaired yet.) and pulling him closer. He barely had time to respond before it was over, and Jemma was smirking at him and looking rather pleased. "I'll take that as a yes?" 

"Oh Fitz..." 

 


End file.
